Y-Strap Adjustment

The Y-Strap Adjustment is a chiropractic/osteopathic technique of spinal manipulation that has grown in popularity on social media platforms, such YouTube and TikTok.

The clinic regularly receives enquiries from people asking if we perform the Y-Strap adjustment on our patients at Spriggs Chiropractic. To answer this question, I thought it best to write a detailed explanation about what the Y-Strap adjustment is, and why this is actually a more complicated answer than it may seem. To help answer this question, there has been a recent publication in the chiropractic literature discussing the Y-Strap adjustment by Gyer et al (2025) that will be referred throughout this blog post¹.

What is a Y-Strap Adjustment?

There are two main types of spinal manipulation techniques that are based around the idea of rapid spinal decompression. The name Y-Strap comes from the plane of motion the technique is applied to the spine. As you can see from the diagram below, if we were to apply a three-dimensional coordinate system to the human body (known as a Cartesian coordinate system), the Y-axis is the longitudinal axis that travels the length of the body, from the feet to the head. The Y-Strap adjustment is applied along the Y-axis, pulling the head of the patient from under the chin¹. There is a variation of this technique that has been named “The Ring Dinger”², both of which have become very popular on social media with millions of views for the content creators and clinicians utilising them. Traditional techniques of spinal manipulation applied by manual therapists are defined as a “high velocity, low amplitude” thrust applied to the spine in a given direction. These techniques of Y-Axis decompression manipulation step outside this traditional definition, into the realm of “high velocity, high amplitude” force¹.

Is the Y-Strap Adjustment Beneficial for Patients?

Where the rubber meets the road of any therapeutic intervention is with clinical research. Pioneers within the healthcare professions pave the way with new, exciting and effective treatments, surgical and pharmaceutical interventions year, upon year. The Y-Strap device itself is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved, Class 1 medical device, meaning it has been through enough testing as a spinal traction device to apply a low amplitude, gentle stretch to the cervical spine (the neck) in an attempt to decompress it, relieve pain and pressure. According to Gyer et al (2025), the manufacturers of the Y-strap only endorse it’s use for gentle stretching techniques, NOT the high amplitude manipulation techniques used on social media by these various clinicians¹.

Now, I am not saying that these Y-axis manipulation techniques don’t work, or don’t provide some benefit to patients, or are unsafe. However, what I am saying is that these techniques have not been tested, in any detail for their benefits, never mind their risks. Blind leading the blind comes to mind…

There is a single case report published in 2021 in the Asia-Pacific Chiropractic of Journal² by the developer of the “Ring Dinger” that has thus far been published. The patient who participated in this report was a 32-year-old male veteran, who presented with a 5-year history of lower back and leg pain along with several comorbidities, including osteoarthritis, hypertension, osteoporosis and hyperlipidaemia (high cholesterol)². The case report describes how the patient performed a baseline assessment of “neurological function” using system called the SR-3053 system. The patient then received a “decompression procedure” aka the “Ring Dinger” and was re-tested using what is assumed to be the same SR-3053 system. According to the case report, the patient demonstrated “improvement” in neurological function from baseline after the “Ring Dinger”. These data from patient were then compared to another participant who did not receive any treatment intervention.

There is so much to say about this case report, and I will try to keep my commentary brief. Firstly, the SR-3053 system is a system that appears to have been originally developed for rapid screening for carpal tunnel syndrome³ and mild traumatic brain injuries/concussion⁴, not lower back and leg pain. Secondly, the author does not mention if their patients lower back, and leg pain improved as a result of their “decompression procedure”. It simply states there is an improvement in the SR-3053 report, the report fails to mention if the patients presenting complaint of lower back and leg pain improved. This case report is used as “evidence” of the safety and efficacy of these Y-axis manipulations for the management of back pain and other spinal conditions, however, it is not possible to claim such things from a single case report, and the procedure was not being tested for its safety or efficacy in the treatment of lower back pain.

I will reiterate my scepticism is not with the procedure itself necessarily, I am not claiming that these techniques do not work or are unsafe. I am simply saying that the procedure has not been tested and therefore claims about what it does and can be used for are premature.

Does Spriggs Chiropractic Utilise the Y-Strap Procedures?

As you can probably tell by now, the answer to this question is simply no, Spriggs Chiropractic does not utilise these types of manipulations. The reason for this is that these manipulations simply have not been tested. The benefit to patients is unclear, who is and is not a candidate for such procedure is unknown and the risks of the procedure have not been identified. In their commentary, Gyer et al (2025) state the force required to pull a 90kg patient 60 cm’s along a treatment table in a chiropractic clinic is 45 kg¹ (assuming for negligible friction). These forces been to be estimated because of a further lack of testing by the clinicians who utilise these techniques. As a comparison, in cases of joint dislocation in the neck, the force used in spinal orthopaedics to re-locate dislocated joints in the neck is  5-15 kg⁵. Therefore, the potential risks when someone applying up to three times the amount of force to relocate a joint in the neck needs testing before being utilised on patients.

That being said, here at Spriggs Chiropractic, we do utilise spinal traction, which includes the gentle application of traction to the neck in the Y-axis, for decompression. We do not utilise the Y-strap for high velocity manipulation. Here at Spriggs Chiropractic, we practice Chiropractic Biophysics® technique (CBP®). Spinal rehabilitation techniques including spinal traction has an enormous body of evidence supporting it’s use and can demonstrate its efficacy and safety with the scientific research. Practicing evidence-based care and working within the best available evidence is important to us, which is why we stay up to date with the current evidence to support our patients.

For more information, give us a call on 01635 43238 or email hello@spriggschiropractic.co.uk.

By Mark Spriggs DC, MChiro, MSc, PGCert, FRCC

References:

1. Gyer G, Hons O, Williams B, et al. The Y-Axis Manipulation – The Clinical Efficacy and Associated Patient Safety Explored – a Clinical Commentary. J Contemp Chiropr. 2025;8:50-60.
2. Johnson GE. Non-surgical manual spinal neural decompression adjustment of the Y-axis: Can the results be quantified? A case report. Asia-Pacific Chiropr J. 2021;1(4):1-5.
3. Mireles MC, Miller JA, Paske WC. Noninvasive physiological screening for mild traumatic brain injury: Preliminary findings of a case series. J Clin Eng. 2010;35(1):39-45. doi:10.1097/JCE.0b013e3181c912de
4. Mireles MC, Jensen VN, Myran LB, Paske WC. Physiological-cognitive biomarker for the presence of concussion/mild traumatic brain injury. J Clin Eng. 2013;38(4):191-195. doi:10.1097/01.JCE.0000435051.97324.d9
5. Miao DC, Qi C, Wang F, Lu K, Shen Y. Management of severe lower cervical facet dislocation without vertebral body fracture using skull traction and an anterior approach. Med Sci Monit. 2018;24:1295-1302. doi:10.12659/MSM.908515